Chasing the Rabbit
by cardiganception
Summary: Mako Mori has dreamed of piloting a Jaeger for most of her life, although sometimes the Drift brings to light things she'd rather forget. The education she's received may be enough to help her in the classroom, but remember: The Pan Pacific Defense Academy doesn't just train Jaeger pilots. They train heroes.
1. Chapter 1

"Mori, Mako and Helms, William."

Mako breathed a sigh of relief and ducked her head, smoothing her regulation skirt in an attempt to stop her hands from shaking. Her legs were tense on the hard plastic chair of the assembly hall and the air was cold, even though her palms were sweating. Today was the day she had been waiting for, almost ten years after she left Tokyo. Her first Jaeger simulation trial.

Thank god it's Will. He's not the best but it could be worse. It could be worse... Her thoughts were interrupted by the next set of names, and Deputy Shawlinn continued until every student in the eleventh form had been partnered. He set down the list and turned to them with a grave expression clouding his already formidable features.

"You already know most of what I am about to say, but for those of you who still do not comprehend the situation, I will clarify. Tomorrow is your first time in a partially functioning Jaeger. Tomorrow is when the real test begins.

"For the past nine years you have been working towards this day. Each of you came to us nothing more than a gawping six or seven year old, excited to step inside the "big robots." But tomorrow, remember that these robots can kill you. And remember these robots are not the toys you owned as a child. Jaegers Mark 1 through Mark 4 are nuclear. Out of the ninety students I see before me, forty of you that will go on to pilot Jaegers, and twenty will die of radiation poisoning. The rest from Kaiju attacks, and a very, very small portion from having to teach and handle students like you." There were a few titters from the audience. Mako stared straight ahead, fists clenched in her lap.

"The partners chosen for you are not permanent in any way. After closely analyzing each of your techniques we compiled a list of five partners for each student. For each of the five trial simulations you will have a different partner not only learn to accept multiple neural handshakes, but also for your safety and your safety in the future. Previously there have been cases of partners showing extremely high compatibility on multiple levels during the trial, and in that situation they will do not rotate partners. Most eventually deploy as pilots together. But this year, we shall see. All I can tell you is to remember what we have tried so hard to teach you, and to trust each other. Assembly dismissed."

With that a small amount of chaos ensued with the first sets of partners calling out across the room and stepping over the rows of plastic chairs. Mako craned her neck to find Will amidst the crowd, and finally spotted him, looking a little lost. Stepping onto her chair she waved her arm in his direction.

"Mako!" he called, smiling and sliding around people to meet her. "This is great, our first Jaeger- are you ready?" Will grinned and the two of them began to push out of the assembly hall, heading for the dorms.

"Yes, I'm definitely ready," she said, pushing open the heavy metal doors to the cooling fall air. "I think we'll make a good team."

"Yeah, I sure hope so." Will walked beside her, scuffing his shoes on the gravel. He was very average for the Academy: average height, average intelligence, average fighting skills. But Mako had heard rumors about his testing results with the pre-Drift scanner that checked for the brain's ability to function in the Drift. Rumor had it he was a phenomenon, able to bond quickly and at a depth never before seen. She hoped this would work in their favor, this being their first Drift. Even if it was only a simulated, partial one.

Mako was worried. She would never admit it, but she was unsure if she would be able to stay calm in the simulation. Very few of the students at the Academy had ever truly come face to face with a real Kaiju, and it wasn't something she'd ever forget. If Will brought up the memories of that day or of her parents, even if by mistake, she might go chasing a rabbit and bring down the entire trial. Mako couldn't risk going in there with baggage.

At the fork between the two dorms they stopped. More people had begun the walk to the dorms, and their excited voices carried through the air. "Look, Mako, tomorrow," Will began, "whatever I see, whatever happens, we stay friends, yeah?"

Mako and Will had never been close before, as he had a group of his own and she tended to stay on the fringes, but they maintained a laid-back camaraderie in their lessons together, and she knew he was on her side. She reached out quickly and touched his arm, a brief reassurance.

"Me as well," she replied. "No judgements, no hard feelings. We'll be fine."

"Great." Will grinned again. "See you tomorrow, Mako!"

"Goodnight, Will." The two headed to their dorms, and Mako sank into the bed, not even bothering to change. The other girls on her floor filed in and eventually the lights were turned out. She listened to the quiet sounds of forty-four people breathing in and out.

Mako couldn't sleep.

* * *

At eight o'clock, the trials began. First up was Jillian West and Mac Benson. According to the mass of onlookers standing in the balcony, there were hardly any mishaps. The pair emerged from the simulator panting but smiling and were promptly attacked by a mob of terrified peers.

The second and third continued in the same vein. Students were able to see inside the simulation room by a camera broadcasting live onto the wall right next to it. The simulator room was immense, almost the same size as a Jaeger's head control room, with the same full body controls and intraneural response system. The only difference was the absence of the actual Jaeger body. Pilots wore the same suits but viewed a fake scenario on the front monitors. They felt the same weight resistance as with a real Jaeger and would move in accordance to shifts in the virtual gravity the same, but each blow and hit would only land virtually.

The fourth trial was a sensation. By this time the entire eleventh form had gathered, as well as whatever older students were on break, and they watched as Maria Conetra and Amelia Brent took down a Kaiju 4 with perfect ease and synchronization. Their movements at the controls were almost beautiful to watch, and later a student bringing tea to the adults in the simulation control room would boast that he heard them say it was the best debut trial ever performed in Academy History.

It wasn't until the sixth trial that anything really happened. According to a few keen ears, Gunther Frince got knocked out of alignment by Hill Ping's memory of a car accident and was hastily taken to the medic. Despite his speedy recovery, the air in the waiting room suddenly became electric as everyone watching realized the danger of the trial and what they were in for.

After three more pairs and another barely held neural-handshake later, it was Mako and Will's turn. They had been watching since the beginning, and as they got up to leave they were given pats on the back and "Good lucks!" from all the others in the room.

"We got this," Will said confidently, pushing open the door to the simulator and holding it for Mako. She tried to banter back but her voice caught in her throat and she could only nod.

They crossed the metal floor to the control harness frames and paused.

"Left or right?" Mako whispered.

"I'll take the right, yeah?" Will adjusted the arm pads on his suit and stepped into the right frame, his boots clicking into place on the foot control locks. Mako took a deep breath and stepped up into the left, a bit of a stretch for her. She breathed again, trying to remember everything she had learned.

When Mako had entered the Pan Pacific Defense Academy she had already learned more than any other students just from being raised by a rotation of cooks, dorm aides, and deputies for the previous year. Sensei Pentecoste had brought her there after the Kaiju ravaged her city and killed her-

No, she told herself sharply. Empty mind, empty body. The mantra of her first Kendo teacher had helped her more than once when she felt like she was drowning in her own history. An aide bustled in to check the frames and adjust the controls to their heights, chattering the whole time.

"Hi there, you two must be Mako and Will, well I'm Coral, and I've been doing this for a good long time and barely anybody has gotten hurt on my watch so don't you worry a bit, now as you know this is only a partial Drift so you will have access to each others memories but you won't be able to enter them fully and go chasing any rabbits, you hear? And with this kind of Drift your connection will be very light, surface memories only in most cases, of course that was not the case with those two girls today but everything is being very closely watched by trained professionals in the simulation control room, alright? Any questions? No? Here we go then!"

Giving a final pat to Mako and Will she pressed a button and the screens sprang to life in front of them. As she was heading back to the exit, Mako swivelled around.

"Coral- What's this Jaeger's name?"

The aide looked surprised, resting her weight on one leg and scratching the nape of her neck. "Well, it's a model of the American's Romeo Blue, so it'll be that, I suppose. Romeo Blue."

"Romeo Blue," Mako repeated softly. A voice came over the intercom relaying basic information, and finally came the countdown for the neural handshake. Mako looked over at Will and saw him fidgeting, ready to go. She looked back at the screen and closed her eyes.

"Initiating neural handshake in three. Two. One."

Romeo Blue, blue like her coat the day her parents left her at home to go to the grocery store and never came back even though she got on her blue coat and one shoe all by herself and left the flat to go find them, they lived over the grocery store so why weren't they home yet, why did they leave her-

Mako was falling, flying, being sucked into her own memories close enough to touch but not quite and she could feel someone else with her in the Drift, someone else's presence and vitality and memories-

Will's farm had remained untouched by the Kaiju because it was so far inland but he hated it, hated being separated from a place he could help and a chance to prove himself and his family, his relatives on the coast he loved and cared for with amazing loyalty, just like everything else in his life, he was not a fighter but a defender-

Mako's harness frame tilted and she was yanked into the present. She blinked out of Will's memory and saw on the a massive Kaiju, a level four at least, barreling towards them through the water, the waves it was pushing up causing the unattended Jaeger to tilt slightly backwards, and in turn, their harness frames as well.

She remembered she wasn't alone and turned her head to see Will pulling himself back to the task at hand. "Level four," she called to him over the sound of machinery and alien roars. "On my count, Hemlock sequence." She suddenly realized she didn't need to say anything out loud, because with a click she was no longer in her own body but somewhere in between herself and her copilot, simultaneously seeing out of her own eyes and Will's, thinking her own thoughts and listening to his. The effect was disconcerting and she felt like her own consciousness was being torn away.

Empty mind, empty body, she thought frantically, and from across the room she heard Will's own repetition of her phrase, mirrored then followed with something that she had to strain to pick up.

Protect and defend, protect and defend. His words carried through the Drift and Mako found herself chanting along. "Protect and defend!" she yelled aloud, raising her arms and watching the ring control on her left wrist activate while she gripped the handbar passing through the center of the disk tightly. Will copied the movement and they dropped to a crouch.

"Alright!" Will shouted. "Here we go!" They both took half a step backward as one, and Mako could feel the Jaeger respond. Under the machine she felt Will, his eagerness and personality seeping into her mind and emboldening her. They raised their arms and prepared, the Kaiju drawing closer, closer, until they were jumping and pivoting, their fist connecting with the Kaiju's side and their left arm wrapping around its neck. The controls on Will's suit glowed red as he struggled to hold it down while Mako activated the knife on the Jaeger's right side. Swinging it with the force of a nuclear reactor she plunged it into the creature's side only to hear Will's strangled warning.

"Mako, tail-"

The world shifted. The Jaeger seemed to fly through the air from the blow delivered by the Kaiju's barbed tail as their harness frames tilted backwards. Jarred by the simulated impact, Mako groaned and felt for injuries, quickly checking Will through the Drift. Although it was only a simulation, it felt real.

"Our left arm is out," she called as they pushed the Jaeger to its feet. The Kaiju had disappeared under the water.

"What's the plan? The thing's gonna come back any minute."

Mako didn't bother to answer, simply going through the Drift and pulling up one of Will's earlier memories: a rodeo, specifically the bull riders.

"I know it's a little unconventional," she began, but he cut her off.

"You're crazy, Mako, but we're fighting a massive sea demon from hell, so why not?" He laughed unconvincingly and they set their stance, scanning the water. A shadow flashed fifty meters to the right and began heading for them at top speed beneath the surface.

"Thar she blows," Will whispered, and Mako sent out a quick prayer. Please let this work, don't make me get thrown out of the Academy, please, please...

And for the second time, they jumped.

* * *

"William Helms and Mako Mori, please report to your Simulation Review meeting in 106."

The PA interrupted the Jaeger Mechanics class with a loud three-tone ring. The calls had been coming all day, and most teachers had almost given up lessons entirely. Their instructor for this class, ex-Ranger Yushi Hanto, had set them loose on his stash of Jaeger Monthly and told them to find one article to read and analyze for next week, but most students had quickly located a piece and begun to wander around the room. Will left his friends and Mako jumped out of her seat by the window in her haste to cross the room.

"Nervous?" he asked as they entered the empty corridor and began the walk to the reviewing room. She shook her head while her knees knocked together.

"Are you?" she responded.

"Of course." Will drummed his hands against his legs as Mako strode to keep up. Seeing her terrified look he fumbled. "We'll be alright, though, I mean even with what happened and everything, they wouldn't eject us."

"We'll see," she answered. They reached the room and pushed open the door. Inside were three chairs centered around a large table. On the table was a small projector. In one of the chairs was Deputy Shawlinn.

"Come in, sit." The Deputy motioned for them to close the door, and they both sat down. He pushed a button on the projector and suddenly Mako was watching herself and Will, viewed as if looking straight through the Jaeger's visor. She noticed in shock how afraid she looked when she came out of the Drift and saw the Kaiju, and how out of synch her and Will's motions actually were, although at the time they felt like ying and yang. The Deputy chuckled at Will's comment about the sea demon from hell, but his brow furrowed deeply when they leapt onto the Kaiju's back and put it in a chokehold before slitting its throat. The screen went dead and Mako turned quickly to the Deputy.

"Permission to explain, sir, it was my fault-"

"Permission not granted, Mori." Mako shut her mouth quickly and felt her heart racing. Deputy Shawlinn pinched the bridge of his nose. "For a first run that wasn't bad. It wasn't good, and in a real Jaeger you may have gotten killed, but not bad." There was no hint of admiration in his voice as he studied them both carefully. "Helms, you're too hesitant. You like to play defense, okay, but in a combat situation you need to strike first. We paired you because we thought Mori's aggressive techniques would even out the balance, but I think you both can do better."

Mako relaxed her clenched fists in relief but felt a blush spreading across her cheeks. I must do better.

"Mori," the Deputy continued, "your fighting was superior but you seemed uncomfortable with the neural handshake. We came close to pulling the plug because of the rabbit you spotted. Even though this was only a partial Drift, Will's natural Drifting depth made the neural handshake tighter, closer to what a full Drift would be. Let go. Let the Drift carry you, and trust Will. You tried to shake out the connection within the first two minutes and that's what knocks people out of alignment, Mori. I know you're better than this."

Mako's face was on fire. She felt like she had failed everyone. She felt like crying but she promised she wouldn't, she promised Sensei Pentecost she'd be the strongest Jaeger pilot in the Pacific.

"Next week, Helms will be with Randy Veenstra, and Mori with Uma Clarke. You're dismissed."

"Not bad!" Will crowed when they got into the hallway. "Not bad, Mako, not bad! I think we're still in the running to be professional Jaeger pilots, yeah?"

Mako nodded but didn't trust herself to speak. "Let's head back to class, then, I'm sure Hanto is mad about all of us missing." Will took a few steps down the hall before realizing Mako wasn't beside him.

"You go ahead," she said quietly. He gave her a look but went without a word. As soon as the coast was clear Mako sprinted in the opposite direction and slammed into the bathroom. Her breath hitched in her throat and she clutched the ceramic sink, her knuckles white. In the mirror she saw the same girl she'd been when the Kaiju killed her parents and left her wandering the streets.

"I am not a lost little girl," she told the reflection. "Not anymore." She imagined Sensei Pentecost with his crisp blue uniform and shiny black shoes and the mustache she liked to pull on when she was younger and he visited her at the Academy. When she was thirteen she threatened to shave it off but he just laughed and told her she'd have to win one hundred rounds of sparring before he let her. That week she practically lived in the gym.

"Shoulders back, chin up, little wolf," he always said. Sensei piloted Coyote Tango, but Mako swore she'd be stronger than even him so he'd taken to calling her "little wolf" or even "little Kaiju" when he was extremely upset.

The girl in the mirror straightened her spine and wiped her tearless red cheeks. Mako smoothed her short cropped black hair and exhaled. Pushing open the doors she slipped into the hallway and sped back to class, determined to prove herself the second she got the chance.

* * *

The second trial simulation went without a hitch. She and Uma had been in the same kendo and sparring classes since second form so their technique was much more similar. During the neural handshake Mako almost chased the rabbit into a memory of her parents, but instead she saw something in Uma that made her pause.

Her family had always been small, just the three of them, and they liked it that way, Uma and her fathers. But after her biological father's husband threw her out of the house for a day after he found a pocket knife in her bureau she went to the park and her fathers decided to leave the city by way of the Golden Gate Bridge. She never heard from them again.

Mako managed to complete the trial, but after she approached Uma and bent in a quick bow. "I am sorry about your parents, and I apologize for bringing it up in the Drift."

"Don't worry about it, Mako," Uma pushed her long hair back. "I'm sure you have stuff you'd rather not let in the Drift, but maybe if we ever pilot together we'll talk about it."

"Of course. Thank you, Uma." Mako tucked her own hair behind her ears and mentally prepared herself for the second review.

* * *

"Sloppy, Mako. You're improving, but try again next week with Yates Ingersol."

* * *

"Yates! Wake up- Yates! Yates, you're slipping-" Mako fought to keep control of the Drift but Yates was already neck deep in a memory of his older brother leaving for college.

"I should've been there..." he breathed, eyes glazed over with the past, right hand raising to release the chainsword. Mako felt her entire being shift like her head had been shaken violently. The alignment had been thrown, and now Yates had relinquished control almost entirely. The simulation was in a city this time, and they had been sneaking up behind a level 2 Kaiju when Yates saw a poster advertising college loans, pulling him out of an already unsteady handshake into a memory of his brother.

The sound of the sword expanding had alerted the beast and Mako was struggling to pilot the entire Jaeger solo, trying to swing the arm in defense as the Kaiju lunged. Yates dropped to his knees inside the cockpit and Mako's thrust threw them both off balance. The screens flashed red, the harness frames turned sideways, the Kaiju clamped its talons around the Jaeger-

Black.

Mako's adrenaline was pulsing but she was unable to move until the frame righted itself. Raging, she unlocked her boots, arms, and spinal connectors and strode over to Yates. He was unconscious and Mako began to feel the headache from her attempt at a solo pilot. Kneeling she pushed at the locking mechanism on his boots, then his arms, and finally the spine. He collapsed into her arms and she tried to shout for help but the room was spinning, tilting like the Kaiju had actually torn it apart. She heard the door fly open and looked up to see Deputy Shawlinn sprinting in, closely followed by four adults.

"It's Yates," she said weakly. "He lost it, I tried-" Shawlinn silenced her with a wave of his hand and the other adults surrounded them, three lifting Yates' limp form while he and the other slung her arms over their shoulders. They took one step forward but the nausea surged like a tidal wave and Mako's world went dark.

* * *

"Mako. Listen to my voice, Mako. You need to wake up. Wake up, little wolf."

Mako's eyes flew open. "Sensei Pentecost?" she whispered, turning her head towards the familiar deep voice.

"Hello, Mako." Stacker Pentecost looked tired. His shoulders curved inwards and the bags under his eyes screamed "world-weary" although he smiled and took her hand. The medical wing's blanket was rough against her arm. "I heard about your trial runs."

Mako turned her face away, swallowing hard. She was certain she'd be kicked out of the program now, what with one unorthodox procedure and one entirely wrecked simulation. She turned back to Pentecost. "How is Yates?"

"Oh, he'll be fine. Just a little shaken." He sighed heavily and pulled the chair closer. "They've cancelled the rest of his trials though, and the Academy Board will decide if he's fit to continue on if he... encounters such a major block every time he Drifts. It's dangerous to his copilot if he can't be controlled in the cockpit." He studied her bloodshot eyes. "They told me you tried to pilot the Jaeger alone."

Mako sighed and avoided eye contact. "He was so far gone," she whispered. "I had to do something, the Kaiju was going to tear the city apart-"

Pentecost stopped her and gripped her hand even tighter, locking her gaze in his. "Listen to me and remember this, Mako Mori. In a real fight you have to remember the consequences and that you'll be the one living with those consequences. You know the consequences of taking on the neural load of an entire Jaeger, both of us know better than anyone." Mako nodded silently. She knew Pentecost had piloted Coyote Tango alone for 18 minutes and the weight had destroyed him and given him cancer. If he ever Drifted again he would die. It was a fact he hid behind his sharply creased suits, but Mako had seen him taking his pills and wiping away nosebleeds more times than she could count.

"I only thought of the people," she said quietly. "Of the families."

"Even so, little wolf, you have your own family to come back to." Pentecost loosened his grip on her hand and began to stand, putting on his coat. "Make sure you come back to me every time, you hear?"

She nodded and smiled sadly. "Yes, sensei."

"And Mako?" Pentecost paused in the doorframe. "I am damn proud of you for piloting that Jaeger and facing that Kaiju all by yourself. Damn proud."

* * *

_(Hello, and welcome to Chasing the Rabbit! My name is Andie, and for something that started as a small pet project this has really grown. It's like one of those sponge pills you put in water that expands into a dinosaur(Kaiju?). Anyways, I'll probably keep this thing going for a while, so hopefully you'll stick along for the ride! I'm hoping to get into the time between Mako's graduation and when she finally meets Raleigh, so stick around, yeah?)_


	2. Chapter 2

Stepping into the simulation room was different this time. Everything was in the same place, all of the harness frames were still, the control panels dormant, but even so, Mako swore the room was tensed like a cat about to spring. She and her copilot, Anya Dysvena, crossed the room to the harnesses. They stood awkwardly beside them.

"So do you want left-"

"You can have left-"

Mako blushed. She knew almost nothing about Anya, only that she had lived in Moscow before the Anti-Kaiju Wall was built, and had seen the famous Cherno Alpha up close. She suspected the other girl had lived through an incident similar to her own, but like Mako, Anya stayed mostly to herself.

"Please take whichever side you're comfortable on." Anya broke the silence and stepped back, allowing Mako to survey the two frames. On the left she was stronger and more experienced, yet there was a chance stepping into that frame would bring memories of her trial with Yates into the Drift and cause another catastrophe.

"I'll take the right side, please," she decided. Anya nodded and stepped into the left. After pushing a strand of blonde hair back into her helmet she looked over to Mako. "Neither of us really know why we were partnered, do we?"

Mako smiled wryly. "No."

"Let's do our best."

"Of course."

Empty heart, empty body. Empty heart, empty body.

"Initiating neural handshake in three. Two. One."

The Drift was almost silent this time. Mako strained, trying to see something, hear something, anything to make a connection. Suddenly she caught it, faint at first but growing stronger.

A deep humming noise echoed through the study, like a foghorn but gentler, one legato note slipping through the floorboards into her room. Her father was playing the cello, was he upset again? Her mother's rehearsal had gone poorly and she was the conductor but the antics of the horn section were hardly her fault. "Come waltz with me, Anya dear, your father is composing..."

The music filled the cockpit of the Jaeger, echoing through the Drift. Mako realized with a start that besides that single memory, Anya had nothing else but music. Entire symphonies and children's lullabies, bringing to the surface Mako's childhood and little red shoes-

With a jolt the lullaby shifted to something more recent, a pop song that had been on the radio for a few weeks, and Mako dropped out of the memory and into the moment, trying not to laugh. The contrast had between the songs was so humorous she could barely keep it together. She pushed her own memories to the back of her focus and looked over to see Anya smiling as well. With the heavy bass thumping in their ears they settled in for a good brawl.

* * *

When faced with the door to the reviewing room, Mako began to regret leaving the infirmary. She could face Kaijus, nightmares, anything people threw at her, but when she had to deal with the actual people doing the throwing it became another story.

Deputy Shawlinn wasted no time, going play by play through the simulation and pointing out weak spots they missed and things they did well in almost equal measure.

"Dysvena, we noticed during your trials that you don't bring many memories to the Drift." Anya nodded slowly and Shawlinn continued. "This has obviously aided you in all of your neural handshakes to date, and currently you're one of our strongest Jaeger pilot candidates. Excellent work."

The Russian girl beamed and tried to conceal her excitement but was failing miserably. Next to her Mako was trying to hide her panic and was having just as much luck. She stared into her lap. Shawlinn was going to criticize her lack of depth in this Drift, or how little she opened up, she could feel it in her bones.

"Mori, it took guts to get back in that machine after the beating you took." Her eyes slowly rose to meet the Deputy's. "I was against letting you back in at all, but Stacker Pentecost personally requested you be given another chance, and what can I say?" Shawlinn leaned back and stretched his thick arms. "I owed him a favor."

Mako wasn't sure if she was about to hug him or slit his throat. If he was so against it why let her back in at all?

"So I put you with Dysvena to see if her... unique Drifting style could get you successfully through a trial." He smiled blithely and Mako decided she'd like to hit him over the head with a bo staff. "There was always the chance you'd overpower her in the handshake and end up soloing again, but lucky I was right, eh?" Shawlinn rubbed the crown of his head. The hair was slowly turning gray and Mako disinterestedly wondered when he would retire. Premature aging seemed to be an occupational hazard of working with Jaegers.

"As for the actual trial, you two seemed decently compatible. Although you haven't had any martial arts classes together your styles are similar." He sighed and tapped his fingers on the desk, pondering. "I'd like to see more of what you can do together, but you both need to try something a little challenging. As you know, we post class rankings before the final trial to give everyone a little perspective." Mako's stomach plummeted. The Deputy glanced at his lists. "Dysvena, go with Jullini next week, and Mori, try with Hansen. Dismissed."

* * *

Two days later Mako was searching the mess hall for a place to sit when Anya spotted her. "Hey! Mako Mori, sit here!" she called, waving her arm over her head. Mako hid a blush behind her bobbed hair and walked the gauntlet between the tables. She passed the prodigy duo from the first trial simulation, Amelia and Maria, heads bent close in conversation, and further down the table was her first partner, Will. They exchanged a quick nod-smile before she continued to where Anya sat. As Mako placed her tray on the table a loud burst of laughter across the hall caught her attention and she stopped, silverware clinking against the metal tray. The source of the sound was some kind of joke told by her partner assigned for the final simulation: Chuck Hansen.

Chuck was being loud, as usual, tucking into his tray with gusto but ignoring his food more often than not to regale his enthralled friends around him with stories of life inside the Shatterdomes, where he had been raised almost exclusively due to his father's status as a pilot. Throughout her years of listening to Chuck's stories at the Academy, Mako noticed he didn't actually talk about his father very much. He spoke of sneaking up scaffolding around the Jaegers and chasing his bulldog around the cargo bay and spiking water bottles with vinegar and playing poker with the pilots after missions (they always gang up and use freaky post-Drift connections to cheat, he swears), but nothing about the Australian hero, Hercules Hansen. Defender of the Southern Miracle Mile. Absentee father.

Chuck glanced up and met Mako's stare with slight surprise clouding his blue eyes. Mako, on the other hand, hadn't even realized she was looking until a few other students at his table swivelled around to see what he was looking at. She dropped her gaze and sat down as fast as she could, nearly overturning the tray next to hers. She could hear Chuck's posse laughing and him shushing them. "Girl from Tokyo news... Red shoes, remember... and smart, already a symbol... probably spoiled rotten..." The entire group was now talking about her and Anya could see it was getting to her.

"Hey, I don't think you've met Julani and Keto." Anya pulled her attention away from the barely concealed gossip to the lanky boy and girl sitting next to her. "Mako, this is Julani and Keto Sefu."

Mako shook their hands and marvelled at the similarities. Both had the same high cheekbones, coal black skin, and lithe build. They oozed raw strength and grace, and Mako felt slightly intimidated until Keto spread his lips in a smile and Julani reached across the table to take one of Anya's green beans.

"So good to meet you finally, Mako," she exclaimed. "We heard about your trial with Yates and I've wanted to ask: what's it like going solo?" The African girl obviously meant no harm but Keto punched her arm and Anya's mouth opened in surprise.

Julani rubbed her arm melodramatically but Keto was already telling her off. "Don't just ask things like that, Lani, good grief-"

"No, it's okay," Mako interjected, but they were off in their own world, bickering about who was bossier and who had seniority over the other. Anya sighed.

"They get like this a lot," she explained. "I only met them this semester, Keto was my second Drift partner."

Mako couldn't possibly see how they'd be compatible but stranger matches had been made. "They're siblings?" she guessed.

"Cousins, actually," Keto corrected, ducking a hand under Julani's arm and stealing a cookie off her tray. "Our fathers are brothers."

"Our whole family lived in the same town, though, and we trained together." Julani had commenced retaliation and had a long arm stretched across her cousin's chest holding him back as she quickly scooped noodles from his tray to hers.

"What did you train in?" Mako questioned eagerly. There were a handful of topics Mako could discuss for hours, and martial arts was high on the list, right behind Jaegers. The pair stopped struggling over their food for a minute.

"Long distance running, mostly, and some sprinting," Keto said. "We were going to run in the Olympics, we were fast enough, but with the Kaiju..." It was obvious the subject was still a raw wound to him, another wild dream ripped away by monsters.

Julani slung an arm around his shoulders. "So we decided we were needed elsewhere!" She had jumped in with so much confidence Mako sensed a habitual falshood. God knows she had lied to herself often enough.

Julani went on. "Karate and judo are basically the same movements as running, anyways, just in a different order. And mostly standing in one place. Right?"

Her table companions stared for a moment before bursting into laughter. "That's not how it works, stupid," Anya gasped, tears in her eyes. Mako wiped her own eyes and tried to think of the last time she had enjoyed eating in the mess hall this much.

"How did your first few simulations go?" she asked her new friends.

"Did you know after they saw Keto and Julani's compatibility during the third set of simulations they decided to keep them together?" Anya chimed in proudly. "I bet they'll get shipped to a Shatterdome together."

Julani laughed and Keto grinned and life continued on to Plan B.

* * *

"Welcome to the annual Jaeger Academy Expo!"

Three days later the assembly hall had been transformed. Booths filled every inch of the floor, each offering information different Shatterdomes, Jaeger designing firms, or any other component of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps a student could want. Mingled in with the students were representatives from various programs in the PPDC, recruiters, even bona fide Rangers taking a day off from missions to see who they'd be working with in the coming years.

"Remember at 2:30 we will be posting the eleventh form's class ranking and after we will introduce this year's guest speaker, Ranger Hercules Hansen." The PA cut out and Mako was left with the chatter of the expo and the threat of rankings looming over her. The Deputy had been warning them that the list of who would be leaving for ranger duty and who would be staying the extra year would be posted soon, but a small part of her refused to believe she had already been at the Academy for eleven years. Out of the forty top names on the list, probably only half would go on to pilot a mission, the others becoming Jaeger technicians or LOCCENT mission control operators while the lower fifty students in the class received degrees from the Academy and stayed another year, working on more personal courses of study such as Jaeger design or Kaiju biology.

Mako passed a booth proclaiming open jobs in Anti-Kaiju Wall engineering and next to it, a booth boasting plans for the newest Jaegers. Keto and Julani were huddled closely there with a woman Mako didn't know, pouring over the charts and blueprints laid on the booth. She wandered over, sliding past some younger students and joining the cousins.

"And this is a really revolutionary design, we've been pushing for construction of prototypes to start sooner," the woman was saying excitedly, her wide hands gesticulating wildly. "I could barely get it past the board of directors but they took a leap of faith."

"Yeah, yeah!" Julani picked up some of the blueprints and saw Mako peering over their shoulders. "Hey, Mako, check this out!" She passed her the papers and Mako tried to make out the complex drawings.

"It's a spherical Jaeger?" she asked, shocked. The mecha was built to curl up like an armadillo, with telescoping spikes that allowed the Jaeger to rotate, roll and presumably go under the Kaiju, then reshape to lift it or stab from beneath. "How does it work? The pilots would become so disoriented, unless the internal Conn Pod-"

"Rotated!" The woman running the booth ducked under her table and pulled out more drawings detailing the gyroscope-type mechanisms that would allow the pilots to remain perpendicular to the ground instead of locked in the Jaeger's rotation.

"I'm Kalpana, Kalpana Martin." She introduced herself, handing over the diagrams.

"Mako Mori. These are incredible- how did you come up with them?"

"Excuse me, these were my idea."

Tattoos. That's all Mako could see, tattoos of Kaiju and claws and kanji and teeth and electric blue veins. The young man walking over looked like he stuck his finger in a lightsocket, his hair sticking out at odd angles like her old cat's and his thin black tie cutting diagonally across his wrinkled white shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to the elbows and the tattoos crawled up his arms, color standing out against the florescent lights of the assembly hall. Some might have deemed the tattoos offensive or insensitive but Mako knew enough by recognize a coping mechanism. She trained, he inked. Kaiju left their mark on everyone.

"So I walk into Kal's lab one day, and she's already pissed at Hermann for taking all her tablets," he says, hopping onto the corner of the booth, "and she's rolling this hamster wheel of his around and I say 'Hey, what if we made an armadillo Jaeger?' And one sleepless night and seven bottles of cheap Shatterdome beer later we made the Lightning Bravo."

"Shut up, Newt." Kalpana set all the documents down and stuck a hand on her hip. "You only got the booze."

"And designd the electric spikes, and the heating system, and the frame couplings-"

"Okay, whatever," Kalpana said, pushing him off his recently claimed perch on the edge of her table. Newt stumbled as his feet hit the ground and Julani and Keto laughed.

"Get back to your booth, you rascal, git!" The Jaeger mechanic threw some crumpled paper at him and Newt made a face before disappearing back into the crowd.

"A colleague of yours?" Jelani asked.

Kalpana smiled and pushed her hair back, revealing the PPDC logo shaved neatly onto her head, previously obscured by the longer hair near her part. "Yeah, Newt is my Shatterdome's resident Kaiju expert, and the guy he mentioned, Hermann? He does mathematical engineering and statistics. He thinks Lightning Bravo will never work, the wet towel."

"I agree it's all crazy." Keto shook his head. "But it might be what makes that difference."

Julani punched him in the arm. "I think it's great. Keto, we could run in this." Hope punctured her voice and Mako could see her eyes shining. "We could fly again."

Keto linked his first finger in hers, a gesture hidden from sight under the table but not escaping Mako's notice. "Hypothetically, if we were deployed together, what would be the chance we could pilot this particular Jaeger together?" he asked.

"Well, hypothetically, since this is such a specialized Jaeger we would be looking for a specialized set of copilots with a strong athletic background, but also no previous piloting experience. That way they wouldn't be used to being upright or a certain fighting style, they would be trained and hypothetically linked to the Jaeger itself." Kalpani scratched her head and got a sly look on her face. "And since the Jaeger would rely more on being fast than hitting hard, hypothetically we'd want recent graduates who had been running more than fighting."

Julani squealed and hugged the smug mechanic and Keto shook her hand vigorously. Mako herself grinned, so excited that they were nearly guaranteed a Jaeger, although her own future was less certain.

"Don't get your hopes up, I can't promise anything and the selection process is supposedly classified." Kalpana extracted herself from the embrace and thumped Keto on the back. "But I never thought anyone would willingly sign up to pilot this thing, so if I accidently wired the interface to only acknowledge the Drift between you two specifically, then that would certainly shorten the candidate list, huh." She laughed and stowed all the Lightning Bravo materials under the desk. "Come and find me after the rankings come up, you two. And you, Mako."

Mako was surprised, she had no part in this, but she offered to stop by anyways. "I think I may have a good machine for you, light on her feet but deadly accurate," Kalpana elaborated. "We're about to ship her down to Australia."

"I would love to see the designs sometime," Mako beamed, but her reply was cut short by a flurry of motion as Anya broke through the crowd and ran up to them, panting heavily.

"The lists are up!" she gasped, and indeed it was 2:30 exactly. Mako met Anya's eyes and the Russian girl looked at her with an emotion she could not understand, but there was time for that later. The two of them, preceded by Keto and Julani, made their way through the throngs and around the booths to the Wall of Directors, where squeezed between portraits of the previous Academy chairmen and women small white sheets of paper were taped. In little black type the names of all the students were listed, ranked by grades, performance on the simulations, behavior, and piloting potential. In total there was one master list, posted multiple times between the stern faces of the Directors.

The air fizzled with relief and disappointment as students crammed around the results. Loud shout of jubilation were carried by a stream of murmured predictions and quiet tears like trout in a river, leaping up waterfalls against the current. Keto used his height to push people out of the way, clearing a path for his classmates. Mako, Julani, and Anya followed closely, finally reaching the front of the crowd huddled around the stark white paper.

Beginning at the top ranked pair (Amelia and Maria, no surprise to many students), they quickly scanned down the pairs. The first of their group to be ranked was Anya, her name typed neatly with a small note 'Copilot TBD' written next to it. Anya gave a small smile as Julani hugged and Keto smacked her on the back.

"I'm so happy for you, Anya, really," Mako said sincerely, squeezing her hand. "I'm sure you'll find a great copilot."

"Keep reading," she said impatiently to the the tall runners, pushing them closer.

'Keto Sefu and Julani Sefu' pronounced the list, soon after Anya's own name. They were heartily congratulated but with a sinking feeling Mako read on as the list of copilots grew shorter and neared the cutoff. Scanning quickly she followed the names down, checking once, checking twice, not understanding.

She wasn't on the list.

Her name didn't appear on the list of Jaeger pilots shipping out. Was there a mistake? She couldn't have been forgotten, she had the best scores in the class, she was one of the best fighters by far, she trained harder and longer, studied and worked. Mako Mori was one of the best. Everyone said so, everyone knew it. What had happened between then and now?

She frantically looked down to the ranking of students listed to spend another year at the Academy and there she was. 'Mako Mori- Subject of Specialization: Unknown' with a small asterisk right next to it. Glancing to the bottom of the page she saw the note.

"Please see Deputy Shawlinn."

Mako's heart fractured like her wrist when she was seven, the second time she had fought with a full size bo staff. Her throat constricted and her vision went dark for a moment. Somewhere to her left Anya was wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and Julani and Keto had respectfully left the area where the lists were posted while they celebrated. Mako felt herself being led away from the crush of students but she didn't know where she was going or why no one would look her in the eyes. Anya steered her towards the stage and presumably the Deputy but Mako stopped abruptly in the middle of the floor.

"Wait," she whispered, smoothing her skirt almost compulsively, pushing hard against her legs. "Why- wait, Anya, please, I don't understand-" She pulled away from her friend but was grabbed around the arm. Anya tried to push her gently in the direction of the Deputy. Her own eyes were brimming with tears but Mako couldn't seem to find the emotion to cry. Anya pulled a little harder but she ripped free.

"Just let me go!" she cried out, and suddenly she was desperate to get out of there. Mako was suffocating and she had failed and everyone in that room knew.

"Mako, wait-" But already she was sprinting for the doors, running behind the booths and pushing out the side doors of the building. The air was warm and the sun filtered down to her as she ran along the gravel paths towards the gymnasium. Everything was wrong. It should be storming, there should be a hurricane, the wind should be howling as loud as the screaming in her head.

She threw open the doors to the short brick training center and took the wide steps two at a time, passing the recruitment posters and schedules and pictures of each class kneeling on the mats, smiles wide and excited and entirely unprepared for the real world. The Academy was simultaneously the closest thing to to an actual Shatterdome and a sheltered microcosm, carefully kept safe from the coastal attacks and rationing and war. But it was all Mako had ever known.

And she wanted so much more.

When she reached the doors to the sparring room she paused. She wasn't even sure what she was going to do, because throwing the racks of staffs across the room was not an option and sparring and running through the exercises alone got repetitive. What's the point of training anymore, a small voice in her head hissed, and without hesitation she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and opened the doors. Stepping inside she smelled the comforting mix of wood and sweat and work.

Someone was already there, whirling their staff with precision and unbridled force, teetering on the edge of losing control. His bare feet moved across the floor and she recognized the Stag sequence, all offensive jabs and heavy forward steps and kicks. Quietly she closed the door, and as it clicked he whirled to face her, staff raised defensively. With a start she realized it was Chuck Hansen.

"What are you doing here?" He was almost as surprised as she was. She didn't think she could answer him without breaking down so she ignored the question and began unlacing her shoes, setting them neatly next to the mat. Chuck watched as she unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it, revealing her black athletic shorts underneath. Pulling her white collared shirt over her head, she folded the two garments and set them by her shoes, stepping onto the mat, smoothing her loose tank top.

"Want to fight?" she asked, walking to the wall and grabbing a staff, the smooth weight a familiar comfort. She turned around and Chuck was still looking at her.

"Sure," he said simply.

They centered themselves on the blue mat and prepared themselves to begin. From day one they had been taught to go through the steps in their minds, plan and calm themselves, repeat mantras, whatever it takes. To bring private problems onto the mat was to bring private problems into the fight, and that was how people got hurt.

Chuck's blue eyes were blank when Mako brought up her staff. Empty mind, empty body. Empty was all she wanted at the moment.

"Ready?" Chuck drawled, his Australian roots bending the word.

Mako stepped forward and knocked his staff to the left in response, and they were off, parrying and whacking and ducking. Chuck landed two hits on her arm but she got him twice in the leg. She was surprised how in tune to each other they were although they had never been close, but she realized that was the reason they had been paired for the last trial. Her last trial. The last time she would be even close to a real Drift.

While Mako was distracted Chuck moved in. After a few easy minutes of hit and return he swung his staff at her head, and now they were fighting for real, putting all their anger and frustration into each blow, not caring about the pain. With each bruise Mako slowly forgot about the rankings, and soon she was fighting for all she was worth. Although Chuck had a good three inches and fifty pounds on her, she was quicker on her feet. She rapped his side and he retaliated by smacking her left wrist with the butt of his staff. Her grip loosened and the end hit the ground with a thud. She braced herself against the upright wood and swung her leg around, catching the middle of his bo staff on her arm as he went for her legs, thinking she was off balance. Her foot landed solidly with his ribs and at the same time she let go of her own staff and twisted his, spinning it out of her hands. Chuck went down on one knee but before Mako could strike the coup de grace, he yanked her legs out from under her. Both staffs rolled out of reach and Mako resorted to dirty fighting, bringing her knee into his lower stomach as he tried to pin her beneath him. He held his ground and attempted to get a grip on her wrists but she hooked her arms around his shoulders and rolled him over her head, using her knees as a springboard. They both flipped off their backs at the same time and for a millisecond their eyes met. Then Chuck grabbed Mako's hair and put her in a headlock as Mako went for his ankles. He landed on his butt and Mako went down with him, her head poking out next to his back from under his left arm. Quick as a cat she raised his left leg by stretching her arm as far as it would go to hold his calf in a vise-like grip, placing her knee over his and applying a bit of pressure.

"Draw," she gasped, and they released each other, flopping onto the mat. Sweat was dripping down Mako's spine and she could feel the blood pumping in her legs.

"You fight dirty," Chuck finally said. He lifted his head a little but thought better of it, returning to the floor to stare at the ceiling.

Mako breathed out a weak laugh. "You grabbed my hair, how is that a clean fight?"

"I do what I have to, not my fault you're a girl." Chuck tried to laugh too but they were both now sharply aware of how carelessly they had landed, her arm thrown across his stomach, his touching the ends of her hair, with their right legs almost completely pressed together. Mako quickly pushed to her feet and Chuck did the same. She performed her customary bow to him and he mirrored her uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry about the rankings," he said quietly. "You were the best out of any of us, everyone knew it. You deserve it."

She thanked him quietly. "I'm sorry about your father."

He was taken aback. "What do you know about him?" he questioned, but it came out sharply. Mako floundered and turned on her heel, quickly picking up the bo staffs and setting them back on the rack. "You fight differently when you're angry; you tend to go for the easy targets, not necessarily the smart ones."

Chuck was rolling his eyes. "What's the point of fancying around if you can just sock someone in the gut?"

She winced. Stacker had taught her to treat combat as an art form. "Because while you're going for the easy way out, they're taking the hard way and winning." She crossed the mat to her clothes and began pulling on her shirt. Chuck still stood in the middle of the room, feet grounded solidly on the mat.

"What does this have to do with my dad anyway?" He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Why did you come here and practice fighting instead of going to the speech?" Mako shot back. She was treading in dangerous waters now but Chuck's face was completely blank.

"You think losing control is a bad thing, Mako." Chuck gave her a look of disdain. "You won't let go, that's why you can't immerse yourself in the Drift, that's why you weren't on the-" He stopped suddenly, eyes darting about frantically.

Mako rounded on him with cold fury, pulling up the zipper on her skirt the last two inches. "Finish that sentence."

Chuck stared at his his feet and scuffed them on the mat uncomfortably. "That's why you weren't on the list of Jaeger pilots graduating from the Academy."

Mako's eyes watered and her knees gave out. Crumbling onto the mat, tears streamed down her face as Chuck awkwardly patted her back.

"It' be alright," he said quietly. "It will all be alright."

_(Hey, Andie here! Thank you so much for all your reviews/likes/follows/reads! I hope you like this chapter and continue to read and comment. Right now we're looking at about six or seven chapters, following Mako through her graduation and then into the Pacific Rim movie-verse. For those of you concerned about ages and sticking to canon I will do my best, but please keep in mind I'm just here to have fun and may deviate/just forget to do math and such. Please enjoy!)_


End file.
